Please Stop Laughing At Me...: One Woman's Inspirational Story - Softcover

Blanco, Jodee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580628362 ISBN 13: 9781580628365

Publisher: Adams Media, 2003

Synopsis

In her poignant work, Jodee Blanco tells how school became a frightening and painful place, where threats, humiliation, and assault were as much a part of her daily experience as bubblegum and lip-gloss were for others. It is an unflinching look at what it means to be an outcast, how even the most loving parents can get it wrong, why schools fail, and how bullying is both misunderstood and mishandled.

About this title

About the Author

Survivor turned activist Jodee Blanco is the author of four books on bullying, including Bullied Kids Speak Out and the seminal New York Times bestseller Please Stop Laughing At Me, currently required reading in middle and high schools across the country. She travels to schools, sharing her story to save lives, and has spoken to over half a million people worldwide. CBS Evening News and USA TODAY have featured her story, and she has bylined for CNN.com and Huffington Post.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-From fifth grade through high school, Blanco was teased, shunned, and, at times, physically assaulted by her classmates because she was different. She befriended handicapped students, "ratted" on the activities of fellow 12-year-olds at her first boy/girl party, and could not bring herself to dissect a fetal pig. Her experiences with school bullies occurred in a variety of settings, including religious and private schools. At various points in this visceral memoir, Blanco fumes at the injustice of being subjected to psychiatric diagnosis and medication while her tormentors remained unbothered and oblivious, and states that "sticking up for people" and/or being different is a "social death warrant." While her loving parents were sympathetic and supportive, their well-meant admonitions to ignore her harassers and "rise above it all" sprang from adult logic; adolescents simply interpreted her indifference as weakness. The author's emotional torment was partly due to a breast deformity; corrective surgery performed prior to her senior year allowed her, finally, to begin viewing her future optimistically. Adults may consider some of Blanco's scenes as hyperbole, but teens will find them authentic and apt. Many will take comfort both in the universality of the experiences and in Blanco's transformation from an unhappy, embittered ugly duckling to a poised, accomplished swan. Others, if they are honest, just might recognize bullying tendencies in themselves and become sufficiently chagrined to reexamine their views and actions toward nonconformists of all stripes.
Dori DeSpain, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1580628362
• ISBN 13: 9781580628365
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288